Strategic Planning Brief description of the organization and its industry

Vision & Mission Statements of Apple Inc.

External Environmental Analysis

Internal Business Environment Analysis

Strategies for Apple

Brief description of the organization and its industry

Strategic planning can be defined as the process where the company objectives and goals are formulated and several processes are used to implement the formula to achieve the goals. The formulation of the processes need to be done keeping in mind the resources that are available with the company and the internal and external environment that the company is functioning in, specifically the position of the company with respect to the competitors and other external factors including financial and political aspects. (Nag, Hambrick and Chen, 2007).

This study would deal with the possible strategies that Apple Inc., our target company for discussion, should undertake in order to deal with the future challenges that the general business is likely to face.

The information and technology industry is high growth and highly dynamic in which Apple operates. The company was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976. The primary aim of the company was to develop and sell personal computers. The products of the company that are the most well-known include Mac line of computers, the iPod media player, the iPhone smart phone and the iPad tablet. Apple is a market leader in its industry and has been reported to be very cash rich. The company has also been named as the best brand in the world a number of times. Even as late as 2014, Apple's brand was number one among all the brands in the world as declared by Interbrand, in October 2014 and it was announced that the brand value of the company was 118.9 billion dollars (Crum, 2014). The company also has a band of very loyal customers who look forward to every new product developed and launched by the company.

The company has managed to secure the leading position in the industry by being an innovator and coming with path breaking products. For example, the products of the company like iPod, iPhone and the iPad were firsts in their field and changed the face of the industry along with a big shift in customer experience (Haslam et al., 2013).

Vision & Mission Statements of Apple Inc.

The vision for Apple was explicitly described by Steve Jobs in one of his appearances in 2008 when he identified that the company intends to be in a certain niche market segment and not be present in certain segments. Jobs had made it clear that the company did not want to serve certain sections of the customer market even as the company intends to increase the value to the customers. This has been the vision of the company where it did not produce cheapo and 'for all' products and clearly the company intends focus of its business on certain market segments (CNET, 2008).

The mission statement of Apple: "Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad." (Discussions.apple.com, 2015)

The vision statement of Apple:"Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings" (http://www.ocl.ac., 2015).

Certain sections of analysts claim that the mission statement of Apple Inc. is poorly phrased. Many see the mission statement as merely an extension of the list of products that the company produces. Mention of customers, concern for survival, philosophy, self-concept and concern for public image and even the employees is missing from the missing statement as is evident in the mission statements of some of the other top companies of the world. There should have been mention about the values that guide the company in decision making. Mention or indications of flexibility as offered by the company in terms of product diversification is missing from the mission statement. This mission statement probably would not be apt in the future in case the company decides to diversify its product line and decides to enter new product markets. The mission statement should also contain the purpose of being of the company so that the shareholders get an idea about why they should invest in the company.

The key customer segments...

Many say that the vision statement could serve more aptly as the mission statement of the company. The core purpose of the company and the relation of the company with the customer sis explained.
The discussion of the mission and vision statement indicate that the technology market including the hardware and the software, would be driven by technological improvements and for the company would do better if it is able to provide unique content in terms of features and usability (King, 2004). The ability of the company to remain a step ahead of the market technology and maintain the high quality standards and uniqueness would be the challenge for Apple with respect to the market place it operates in. Therefore to keep the customers, the company needs to continue to invest in research and development for innovation and new products and new features to maintain the competitive advantage of the company. However given the present status of the company that includes the large cash reserves and the leading market position, sustainability is not a problem with Apple Inc.

External Environmental Analysis

PESTLE Analysis

To gain an understanding of Apple's business environment and the help formulate a strategy that is suitable for the future market it is necessary to undertake an analysis of the external environment of the market which is done by the PESTLE analysis.

Political factors: there are certain factors that are not within the control of the company like geopolitical uncertainties, war against terrorism, authority to work and health issues that can affect the use of Apple's products. The company outsources certain business operations to countries like Ireland, China, Korea and Czech Republic. Any political instability in these countries would affect the supply of product parts result in a delay in the entire supply chain and ultimately affect the functioning of the company.

Economic Factors: the purchasing power of customers is often decided by the general economic condition of the globe. During the global economic depression of 2007-20008, all the business all across the world suffered. While appealing to a niche segment of the market, Apple's products are often priced at a premium. Therefore for the overall business success of Apple, the economic condition of world is a very important.

Factors like inflation and currency value fluctuations are the ones that tend to affect Apple's business prospects. The sale of products can be hampered when there is a rise in inflation as the products of the company are pricy. The export value of Apple products can be affected if there are changes in the American dollar value with relation to other currencies.

Social Factors: for Apple, the design and the quality of its products have been two factors that have always been on forefront. A customer's modern lifestyle which is linked to the social and cultural background of the customers is the primary target for the design, look and feel f the products. Hence the sale of the products is often defined by the cultural and social background of the customers as well as for the major section of the market and the customers.

Technological factors: the superior innovation in its products has been the focal point of the business strategy of Apple. The products of the company ooze of superior and unique technologies. Therefore any changes or developments in technologies in the industry would be a cause of concern for the company as technology is the most vital aspect of the products of the company. Any change would mean that the company would have to strive to meet up with the advancement or changed technology and often better it in order to maintain its superior position in the market (Mellahi, Frynas and Finlay, 2005). Therefore it is evident why the company makes large investments in product research and development. One such result of the investment in research and development is the invention of the iPod, the smallest hand held device to store and play personal music, resulted in the complete ouster of the walkman which was cumbersome and had no storage capacity at all.

Environmental Factors: there is growing awareness about environment protection in the world today. In the information technology industry, in recent years there have been rising concerns about the environment friendliness of the manufacturing process and the possible use of hazardous chemicals in manufacturing gadgets. There is also concern about use if renewable energy and energy conservation. There is a growing pool of consumers who intend to…